While health sector job growth surged in the fourth quarter of 2014, hospital price growth is at a 16-year low, according to the latest economic indicators from Altarum Institute's Center for Sustainable Health Spending.
In December 2014, healthcare prices were 1.8 percent higher than in December 2013 — a rise that includes a 6.4 percent increase in prescription drug prices, a growth rate not seen since 1992, according to the report.
Year-over-year hospital prices grew 0.9 percent in December 2014, less than the November value of 1.1 percent, the lowest rate in more than 16 years, the center said. Physician and clinical services prices grew 0.6 percent, the same as November.
Additionally, based on preliminary estimates, national health spending grew by 5 percent last year, with prescription drugs showing the largest increase (13 percent), the center said.
The center said that specialty and other drugs are driving higher prices, but also noted that this has been an above-average flu season, and that Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, as well as Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Holdings, have reported fourth quarter 2014 results, which show higher volume.
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